"Why, no, your honor, we didn"t let him go, for the very good reason that he didn"t give us a chance to show him so much mercy."
"How?"
"You see the fellow didn"t come himself, but sent a subst.i.tute!"
"The deuce, he did! How"s that?"
"That"s what we can"t tell; we only know, that instead of young Hadley, we came within an ace of killing "Squire Williams!"
""Squire Williams!"
"Yes, sir. He came along at the precise hour that should have brought the other, and it being too dark to distinguish one man from another, or from old Nick for that matter, we fell on to him, and but for the merest chance would have finished him."
Here the enactment of the early part of the evening was rehea.r.s.ed in full.
"It is well you got off so easily, and I must give you credit for your ingenuity; but I am exceedingly sorry the bird we were after has escaped.
However, as that cannot be helped or amended just now, we will proceed with the rest of our work."
"What hour of the night is it?"
"About one o"clock; and that reminds me of the fact that we will not have time to take all the stock to-night; we shall, therefore, confine our operations to a single item--the taking of Mandeville"s horse."
"Mandeville"s?"
"Yes; why not?"
"I thought your honor was playing for another stake in that quarter?"
"And if I am?"
"Why, I just thought it was a queer way of gaining the old gentleman"s good will--that thing of taking his horse."
"Not so queer as you might think for."
"Oh! I remember now; excuse me; this Hadley was to be made the scapegoat; you were to get a horse and have the blame of the theft thrown on a rival, whose non-appearance should condemn him. I see it all now, though I did not perceive this delicate undercurrent in the plan of affairs. Lieutenant Duffel against the world, I say!"
"Silence! d.i.c.k, you are familiar with Mr. Mandeville"s premises, I believe?"
"Yes, tolerably so."
"Well, I want you to bring Tom here in about half an hour; and do the job up nicely, too."
"I"ll try, sir."
"You must _do_ it. Be quick; it is going to rain soon, and we must get him away before the tracks will show; but don"t so much as disturb the sleeping gra.s.shoppers by your noise."
"All right."
"Go now, and be here again in the shortest possible time. Bill and I will arrange matters for future operations while you are gone."
d.i.c.k hastened away to do the bidding of his master, and Duffel communicated to Bill the following piece of intelligence:
"I was very much in hopes the whole of our plan for to-night would succeed, though I heard that in the evening which caused me to have misgivings on the subject. I learned that Hadley received intelligence that his mother and uncle were both sick and not expected to recover.--They live in Philadelphia: the uncle, his mother"s brother, a bachelor, by the way, with whom she is living, is reputed wealthy, and, it is said, has willed his property to young Hadley. The news of these events was brought to him yesterday, and he made immediate preparations to go east, but did not expect to get off until this morning. I presume, however, he must have started yesterday in the after part of the day; but be this as it may, I wish you and d.i.c.k to follow after him, and don"t fail to finish him somehow and somewhere. If you could only manage to get ahead of him and waylay him at some point in the mountains, it would be the best place for you to do the deed and conceal the commission of the act."
"Yes, if he should be alone."
"Which will most likely be the case, at least a portion of the time. But should no such opportunity occur, or should you fail to get beyond him on the way, you must watch for him in the city; follow him as closely as his shadow, and in some dark alley, or at some unseasonable hour, put him out of the way."
"Exactly."
"You understand that this _must_ be done, do you?"
"If Lieutenant Duffel says so."
"Well, I do say so, most emphatically. I am more anxious than ever to have him settled, since this new phase of affairs has come up."
"I understand; but when are we to start?"
"Early in the morning. We will find out as soon as possible whether he started yesterday; then you must show yourselves for a little while, as was before determined; and as soon afterward as possible be off. Be sure to get on the right track, and don"t lose it."
"Never fear on that head. We will follow him as the lion does his prey."
"Well, I leave the matter with you; see that you acquit yourself as a good soldier. Give d.i.c.k such instruction as may be needed.--Here he comes."
d.i.c.k rode up on the horse he had stolen, and they all immediately repaired to the swamp, where the scheme of villainy had been planned, in the middle of which the horse was concealed for the present, as they were unable to take him further then without incurring great risk of detection.
The next morning after mingling awhile with the indignant crowd of citizens, who were collected together on hearing of the theft, and pouring out invectives on the "villain of a thief" in no measured quant.i.ty, the two ruffians, Bill and d.i.c.k, set out on their errand of death? Learning that Hadley had started the previous afternoon, they followed after him on two of the fleetest horses in the possession of the clan.
It might be well enough to remark, that in those early days most of the traveling was done on foot or on horseback.
CHAPTER IX.
On the evening of the second day of their pursuit, d.i.c.k and Bill found themselves in the immediate presence of their victim, they having reached the same inn at which he had already put up for the night. The meeting was unexpected to them, and at first they feared it might frustrate their designs; but as they had taken the precaution to throw off their usual habiliments and character, and to a.s.sume the dress and address of gentlemen, Hadley did not recognize them, though the impression fastened itself on his mind, that he must have seen them and heard their voices before, but where and when he could not remember.
The villains, from his musing manner, half suspected that he was trying to call to mind who they were, and one remarked to the other that they had better go out and see after their horses; but it was more for the purpose of consulting about the affair they had in hand than for the good of their beasts, that they wished to leave the house. When a.s.sured that they were beyond hearing distance, said Bill to d.i.c.k:
"Well, we have treed the game at any rate."
"Yes, but I don"t see as it signifies much if we have, for we can"t keep him treed, nor bring him down neither, in this place."
"But we know where he is, and that is something."
"I take it, it"s but little. What can we do with him?"
"Why, we can get ahead of him and select our place for the next meeting, and then--"